It's rare for a draft pick outside maybe the top two or three players taken in a given draft to make an NHL team in his first training camp. But like any player in the preseason, that was Smith's goal all along.

"I just wanted to make the team, so always that's the first thing," Smith said. "The next thing I guess is just learning as much as you can about being a Devil and adapting to how they play, their character and the way to be around here. You can learn to be a pro from all of these older guys, and then just being myself and trying to play my game."

His next -- and potential final -- test will come on Thursday when the Devils play a preseason game against the Winnipeg Jets. The Devils will travel to Switzerland on Friday to start their Europe trip, and the team could make their final cuts before departing.

Smith, like all 28 players still with the team, packed for the entire trip to Switzerland and Sweden.

Along with Smith's ability to quickly pick up some of the NHL's intricacies, Devils coach John Hynes said the defenseman has been able to keep up with the pace of games, even when something doesn't go his way.

"The thing we really like about him, he finds a way to adjust," Hynes said. "Even if he has a rough period, the rest of the game, he can figure out and adjust, and I think that's part of his learning, the intensity level and how quickly you need to do things at this level vs. other levels."

One of his biggest contributions so far has been his play on the offensive blue line and under pressure. In his first game, a 4-3 overtime loss against the Rangers on Sept. 17, Smith made a spinning backhanded pass while in a tight space along the wall at the blue line, keeping possession alive setting up a power-play goal for Nick Lappin moments later.

On Monday, another 4-3 overtime loss against the Rangers, Smith delivered an effortless no-look, backhanded pass to Taylor Hall in the left side on a power play, flipping the ice and setting up a dangerous shot from Jesper Bratt off another pass from Hall.

Smith's ability to read defenses and make quick decisions has helped his cause in training camp, and it was one of his biggest attributes entering the 2018 NHL Draft.

"On the backhanded pass to Hall, he was in the perfect spot to be open, and I saw Lappin coming down the wall, and guys started to close on him," Smith said. "You could kind of see that he was going to make the bank pass to me, so their forwards read that a little bit and were closing quick, so it was kind of the play I had to make. Kind of saw Hall there before I went for the puck and before those two guys were on me. I trusted instincts to make that play, and he was in the right spot."

Smith is no stranger to running a power play or controlling the puck on the offensive blue line. His 73 points with the Spokane Chiefs last season made him the second-highest scoring defenseman in the WHL.

Part of running a power play is identifying the strengths and weaknesses of an opponent's penalty kill, then making the right read and play. Smith has seen a new level of competition in NHL preseason games, but so far, he's shown the ability to manipulate opposing defenses and make smart reads.

"They're NHL players, so they're obviously doing what they're told and they doing it perfectly," Smith said. "So whatever the one thing is they're giving up on the penalty kill, you've got to try to recognize that and take advantage of it."